Bethesda Game Studios' Todd Howard has seemingly confirmed that both its upcoming role-playing games: Starfield and The Elder Scroll 6 will be coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one. While this has been speculated before by many since the time Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Bethesda in 2021, this is the first when Howard, Creative Director and Executive Producer at Bethesda Game Studios' has confirmed the news.
Microsoft announced back in September that they are acquiring Bethesda Softworks' parent company, ZeniMax Media, and while the deal won't be finalized till 2021, things have already been set in motion. Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda is undoubtedly one of the biggest and the most unexpected deal in gaming history which cost over $7.5 billion. Courtesy of that, Microsoft now owns a total of 23 first-party studios which includes Bethesda's id Software, Arkane Studios, Machine Games, Tango Gameworks, Zenimax Online and Bethesda Game Studios.
Speaking to GameIndustry.biz, Howard revealed a plethora of new details about its upcoming sci-fi epic Starfield as well as The Elder Scrolls 6. He assured fans by stating that both of these games will be complete single-player experiences, in contrast to the highly controversial Fallout 76 that released back in 2018. He further went on to talk about how procedural generation will play a huge role in developing the huge and expansive open world of Starfield, which is seemingly even bigger than that of Fallout 76. The most important bit of information he revealed was that both of these games will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft's subscription service is undoubtedly one of the most valuable services available in gaming today and it continues to thrive with a diverse and ever-expanding library of games.
Xbox Game Pass users can already have a taste of what's to come in the future following Bethesda's acquisition, thanks to the addition of this year's hugely popular Doom Eternal. Bringing these AAA experiences to a game subscription service, especially at launch, is a huge feat. The addition of these launch games including first party titles, likely makes the appeal of purchasing a service like Xbox Game Pass even greater as it basically saves people from paying the newly increased next-gen game prices at $70.
Nevertheless, the addition of big AAA titles, especially with the likes of Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 will greatly benefit from Game Pass as it will allow even more players to try its games. Moreover, since these games are generally hundreds of hours long with a lot of replayability options, players will keep coming back and Microsoft will benefit from Game Pass renewals.
Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 are currently in development with no release window.
Source: Reddit